


Estranged

by thejunipertree



Category: Impact Wrestling | Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Professional Wrestling
Genre: Character Study, Developing Friendships, Drinking & Talking, Female Friendship, Gen, Walk Into A Bar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 09:32:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19809535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thejunipertree/pseuds/thejunipertree
Summary: Post-Slammiversary XVII, Alisha goes to a bar to wash away her stress and sorrow, and finds it full of her coworkers. She and Kiera Hogan very nearly have a bonding moment over their very tough year at Impact. A fight continually fails to break out.





	Estranged

**Author's Note:**

> Title is inspired by the Guns N' Roses song of the same name:  
>  _Young at heart but it's getting much too late_  
>  To find ourselves so far apart

Alisha walked into the bar exhausted. She’d thought about catching a taxi to somewhere far away from the arena, but the idea of sitting in a silent car with the weight of everything that had happened tonight crushing in on her was insufferable. She needed noise and people and to think about anything other than Eddie’s face when he saw blood.

Why had she even gone to the show, she asked herself as she took a seat at the bar. She’d known she wouldn’t like what would happen, but she had made a promise to Eddie on their wedding day to see this through to the end.

It was only when the bartender brought her beer that Alisha realized a man had sat down on the stool next to her. She wasn’t really listening to whatever bland pickup line he was trying out on her. As soon as he stopped talking, she spoke up: “Actually, I’m married.”

“I don’t see your husband here,” he responded in a voice she could tell he thought was cool.

“He doesn’t have to be.” Alisha stared at the condensation beginning to form on the beer bottle as she felt her pulse rising. She could picture exactly how great it would feel to smash that bottle over this guy’s head. She could hear the screams, see how everyone would leap to their feet, the whole bar suddenly as on edge as she felt. When was the last time she’d had a real fight, gotten kicked out of a bar, drawn blood?

“Um, hi, excuse me,” a woman’s warm voice pulled Alisha back to the present moment. Scarlett Bordeaux had gotten he attention of her would-be suitor. “I lost my contact in the parking lot. Do you think you could help me look for it?” Whatever magic Scarlett had seemed to be in full-swing tonight because the guy was already sliding off his seat and toward the front door. “That should keep him busy tonight,” Scarlett said with a smile. Then she grabbed a cocktail Alisha didn’t remember her ordering and walked over to a corner table that had serendipitously just opened up.

Alisha thought about joining her – night out with Scarlett was never boring but… it always made the rest of the world feel like a zoo. Alisha peeled at the beer label with her finger nail. She thought about Eddie in prison, in the madhouse. She refused to think of her time being held captive by Moose. Yeah, she’d never go vegan like poor Allie but she felt a lot more sympathy for strange animal behavior, human or otherwise.

Now that she was aware of her surroundings, Alisha realized that she should’ve put up with the awkward cab ride to get to a bar that wasn’t full of her coworkers. Eddie wasn’t here of course, and neither was Kross – and maybe that’s really why she hadn’t bothered, in the off chance one of them would show. Pretty much everyone was in groups – Scarlett had already collected a throng of hangers on, LAX were holding court in the other corner where about a dozen friends (even Diamante had made it) were laying out tequila shots and trying their best to comfort Santana and Ortiz. The color blue caught her eye from the other end of the bar. There was Kiera Hogan staring sadly into some kind of bright-red cocktail. Alisha considered staying where she was and nursing a beer alone, but it was a lot harder to lose herself in liquor now that she knew she was no longer anonymous. She went and sat down next to Kiera.

Alisha put on her best fake smile, “Why so blue, girl on fire?”

Kiera’s mouth twitched briefly before she pulled her most superior face, “Ugh, I can’t believe you went for that – everyone knows puns are for losers!” When she caught a glimpse of Alisha, though, she dropped the act. “You don’t have to pretend, you know? Like, you’ve gotta feel like shit tonight.”

“I mean, I’m fine. I didn’t even wrestle.”

“Neither did I! And I’m still here feeling terrible,” Kiera glanced again at her cosmo. She’d have to change her drink order. Hopefully Blue Curacao tasted nice. She knew people thought it was silly how much she cared about color-coordination, but it sent a message. Here she was, trying to be the blue flame – burn her hottest and most intense – and Alisha is still trying to talk to her as if nothing’s happened. As if no one had changed over the course of this horrible year. And drawing her in! A blue drink to go with her blue hair and black lipstick to leave on the rim – then everyone will know how aloof she is and how little she needs them.

There they were, sat drinking in awkward silence. This was the exact thing Alisha had wanted to avoid. Why hadn’t she glassed that guy? Hell, she could’ve started a fight with Scarlett and really torn the roof of this place. Now she was stuck feeling sorry for herself with a lost little girl she barely knew. She looked at Kiera again. In the dim bar lighting, the blues of her outfit faded to black, as if she was in mourning. Well, Alisha thought, that’s not totally true – I know enough.

“I’m sorry about Allie,” she said.

Kiera sighed. “It’s whatever, you know? Allie wanted Rosemary back and she didn’t care who she hurt to get it. She threw her life away, she threw her friends away like, way before she died.”

Alisha took a long swig from her beer.

“I was wrong about who Allie was, about what Rosemary is,” Kiera continued, “And I was wrong about who Jordynne was – she’s so strong but where was she when it mattered, you know? But everyone was wrong about me too. I’m not the convenient little friend you can ignore until you need. At least not anymore.”

“People know you better than you think,” Kiera started to protest but Alisha pushed on. “You know, everyone thinks I’m just so shocked by how Eddie is acting but… I know him. I’ve always known he had this in him. And he knows me too, even if he’s forgotten.”

There’s an anger that crept Alisha’s voice and by the end each word sounded like a chair thrown across a room and Kiera realized that she was probably wrong about who Alisha was too. She’d tried to be everyone’s friend, but had she even actually understood anyone?

Alisha was still gathering steam: “Guys like Kross, they think the darkest corner of a person’s heart is who they’re always gonna be. Me and Eddie we, we were trying to build something and maybe that’s against both of our natures, but we were going to try.”

“’Anything is possible?’” Kiera said, making the air quotes, but with kindness in her voice and eyes.

Alisha smiled, nodding. Then she raised her beer to make a toast.

Suddenly, there was a loud buzzing at the bar. It was Alisha’s phone. She checked the caller ID: Scott D’Amore. “Shit!” There was only one reason management would call her at this time of night. Eddie must have done something.

“I’ve gotta go,” Alisha said as she placed some cash on the bar. “I’ll see you around.”

She left the bar in such a hurry that she didn’t even notice she passed Madison Rayne on her way out.

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanted to work out in writing my take on Alisha's character - who I think has been much neglected in this whole Eddie feud. Also to dispute Kross's assertion that she doesn't know Eddie as well as he does. Obviously Kross is the villain so he doesn't tell the whole and perfect truth! But Alisha is the woman who came to Impact to chuck trash cans at Angelina Love's head! I think she understands Eddie more than she is shown to on TV.


End file.
